still time to plant...

Now that the peas and the strawberries are done and the lettuce is knee-high and bitter, some of us are thinking about how to fill those gaps. Check Anne Raver's great column about what to plant now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/garden/10garden.html?scp=6&sq=anne+raver&st=nyt

Full Moon Sangria Garden Party

Last night we had the first of what will hopefully be many garden parties. There was a good turnout of people, and it was nice to finally meet the faces that belong to the plots I have been admiring all Spring and Summer.

We all enjoyed a delicious spread, complete with Sangria, and even some early garden produce.

It was great time; people were able to show off their plots, swap gardening tips and neighborhood stories, and generally get to know each other...and did I mention the delicious Sangria??

We will plan another week-night
get-together soon, and hopefully
lure out some more gardeners!

summer's here

disappointments

OK, well--one disappointment. The two big beds of arugula I planted are up, spotted with flea-beetle holes but otherwise handsome and healthy. Last week I picked a handful to nibble on and...it was horrible. Bitter, peppery...way beyond any level of spiciness that I could've wanted. And now I have heaps of the stuff. I tried the younger leaves--still nasty. I suppose these are just the occasional disappointments of gardening--the long-awaited strawberries that succumb to rain, flowers that emerge an unexpected and hideous color. I will try to choke down a bitter salad or two, but it's still early--plenty of time to replant and start over with something else.

green energy

Once things get going in the garden, there's no stopping them and finally, as we come to the end of a chilly, reluctant spring,things are going. The feathery, fragile seedlings of carrots and dill, the plump globes of the peony buds, the brawny, twining green shoots of peas and beans, the knee-high dandelions--everything is bursting with a kind of unstoppable energy. The peas are almost comical, with their wiry, alien tendrils reaching out grasping at something, anything to climb--a twig, a bamboo pole, the chive stalks.

The farmer's markets started up this week--the Copley market is now open Tuesdays and Fridays. Several of the stalls sell wonderful seedlings, including The Herb Lyceum's amazing range of herb plants and Atlas Farm's stocky, gorgeous tomatoes. I bought a six-pack of Sungolds and am trying desperately to make room for all of them. The Brookline farmer's market in Coolidge Corner doesn't open til June 19th this year, but for the late starters or those of us who can't resist over-planting, it always has wonderful plants for sale, especially flowers.

rhubarb

A lot of progress in three weeks! Rhubarb is incredibly strong stuff. I transplanted my two plants from a row that my late grandfather planted in his New Hampshire garden more than forty years ago and they have been thriving in JP, producing enough stalks for endless pies and crisps. Now where are those strawberries?

compost, rain, violets...

We chiseled a bit of a pathway through the compost this weekend and somehow it doesn't look quite so overwhelming, though I haven't checked it since the downpour today--maybe it's slumped over again under its own enormous sodden weight. Generally though, the news from the garden is good. Everything is greening up rapidly and the rain today can only help.

I never realized how tough and weedy violets are. Every year I have to dig up clumps of them and they're wily at hiding among strawberries and other perennials. But this one cluster was so gorgeous I had to leave it.

too much of a good thing?

So...the compost is here! We have enough compost to fill a Mini Cooper, or maybe an Escalade. Despite our best efforts, it was deposited in the middle of the walkway--we'll have it moved later this week, but in the meantime, feel free to dig in.

The cruelest month...maybe.

April 6th, and the garden is still a chilly and slightly desolate place. Lots of dead brush, leaves, and other detritus from last year. Scattered logs from the big tree that was removed recently, a layering of shavings and sawdust, and not much green anywhere. But there are signs of hope--crocuses and scilla here and there, bright red buds of peonies starting next to last year's dead wood, and the crumpled red and chartreuse knobs of perennial rhubarb plants unfolding. Even in one corner garden a cluster of sprouting, dark red leaves (radicchio? red lettuce?) that look like roses.

First Post!

A couple of hours ago on this chilly April morning, Tracy, Suzanne and I met over coffee at Cafe Ula to start planning the 2008 season at the Brookside Community Garden. In between discussions of raspberry bushes, how to keep cats out of our freshly-dug plots, and tidying up our unwieldy compost heaps, we floated the idea of creating a garden blog. It might be, we thought, a great way to keep people involved, communicate with each other, share photos, ideas, or recipes, and generally keep track of our progress over the season.

So, here's a new blog to start off a new season. We're happy to have a convenient place to post "official" garden business and information but ideally it'll be a place where anyone can post with questions, answers, helpful links, and so on.